I knew a man who traveled through Death Valley in the 1920s when there was only a dirt road going through it and there were graves on the side of the road.
I was stranded in Death Valley with BF over Labor Day weekend in 2009 when he took a wrong turn and just kept going. (Yes, very stubborn.)
Luckily for us it stayed at 92 degrees as it could easily have been so much hotter.
Totally desolate there. Eventually an off-roader looking for an adventure that weekend saw our tracks in the sand, followed them, and ending up towing out our SUV and us just before helicopters were being dispatched.
I was never so grateful to God in my life.